Who is this for?

This leaflet is for anyone who is thinking about ways of practising and improving their English presentation skills.

The aim of this leaflet

The aim of this leaflet is to offer some useful suggestions on how to work on your presentations. It will also direct you to some materials which give useful tips on giving professional presentations.

Useful materials in the Language Commons

Videos

There are a number of videos, located on the ‘Business’ shelf in the Multimedia Area, which offer many tips both on how to prepare for – and how to give – effective presentations.

• Be Prepared to Speak
• Effective Presentations
• The York Training Packs – Effective Presentations

Books

There are a number of books, located on the ‘Speaking’ Shelf in
the Multimedia area, which offer useful tips on all aspects of presentations.

• Giving Presentations
• Effective Presentations
• Presenting Facts and Figures
• Speaking Effectively

Textbooks and related videos

There are a number of course books, with videos, in the Language Commons near the emergency exit in the Reading and Writing area. Many of them include advice on the basic principles of giving effective presentations.

CD-ROMs

• Speak Easy!

Useful materials on the WWW

• Presenter’s Information Center
  http://www.thepic.com/
  This is an interesting site with an online guide for presentation skills. It includes advice on giving computer-based presentations.
• The Virtual Presentation Assistant
  http://www.ku.edu/~coms/virtual_assistant/vpa/vpa.htm
  This is an online tutorial for improving your public speaking skills.
• Effective Presentations
  http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/effective.html
  This site is most relevant for academic presentations. It also provides many links to other presentation skills resources online.
• University of Guelph Learning Services: Presentation Skills
  http://www.uoguelph.ca/csrc/learning/ps-res-b.htm
  This site has some useful advice on managing nervousness. It also has an excellent set of links to other presentation skills resources online.

• Lenny’s Simply Speaking Discussion Board
  http://ljlseminars.com/discussion.htm
  Using an interactive web discussion forum, you can post questions to a professional trainer, and get advice from him. You can also read his answers to other people’s questions.
• Online Technical Writing: Oral Presentations
  http://www.io.com/hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/oral.html
  Advice on giving 7-minute talks from Austin Community College, Texas. Applies to all disciplines, not just technical ones. Gives examples of introductory remarks and transitions, and the scripts of two example presentations.

Suggestions for practice

It is a good idea to find a small group of people who are also interested in improving their presentation skills. By practising together, you can get useful extra feedback.

• Book the Seminar Room and the video camera in the Language Commons. Filming yourself is the easiest way to see what you are doing well and what you need to improve.
• Choose a presentation topic. Decide how long your presentation should be. Plan and rehearse your presentation.
• Set yourself a list of criteria for evaluating your performance. (You could develop this list after consulting some of the materials in the section above.)
• Film yourself giving your presentation.
• Watch the video of your presentation. How well do you meet your criteria? Identify the areas which you need to improve.
• Practise your presentation again, focusing on the areas you have identified. Then video yourself again.

Check the Activities list on the Language Commons’s website at http://cle.hkust.edu.hk/archive/2021/ilang/ for organised practice opportunities, such as short courses, which are available.

And Now…

If you need any help or advice, or just a chat about your progress:

• see an Adviser, on duty at the Language Commons Advice Desk (for details of advisers and their availability, please go to http://lc.ust.hk/~sac/sacadviser.html)
• e-mail lccommons (lccommons@ust.hk) with your query;
• ask at the reception counter of the Language Commons — if the receptionist cannot help you directly, s/he will pass your query on to one of the Language Commons advisers

Note

The introductory leaflet in this series is the leaflet Improving Your Speaking Skills (S1).

This advice sheet is part of the Speaking series of leaflets supporting independent language learning, produced by the HKUST Center for Language Education Language Commons team. This leaflet was re-written by Jan Pople, 2001. Last updated: 27 February, 2001. If you copy from this leaflet, please acknowledge the source. Thanks.